The Fool and the Lord of Pain
by Aeliren85
Summary: Atton Rand faces Darth Sion, Lord of Pain, in the depths of the Trayus Academy. Will he survive the encounter? (Male Exile) Oneshot, R&R!


Atton Rand was running. He and three companions had tried to attack Kreia in the center of the Trayus Core, but not all had gone to plan. And there he was, running. Deserting.

"_I'm a deserter. It's what I do."_ he remembers having once said. But that was long ago. Alot had changed since then, and he accepted another part of him. A Jedi exile, a man by the nameof Dace Tainer, had shown him that. Made him accept it. For once, he wasn't just fighting for his own skin.

He kept running out of the Core and into the main academy, when he felt something. Like a small ripple just flew through him to tell him something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what. And right on cue, from behind one of the stone pillars came Darth Sion, Lord of Pain. Though his face was scarred, cracked and burned, Atton thought he saw what looked like a smirk on his face.

"And I get the fool." he said, igniting his lightsaber.

Atton drew his own lightsaber, which he had placed in his jacket while running. The yellow blade ignited.

"Funny, that's what I was thinking." he said, grinning at Sion's insulted look.

Red and yellow clashed in the room as the blades swung at each other. Atton actually surprised himself. He didn't think he'd last this long against Sion. He lifted his hand and Sion backed away a few steps, pushed by the Force.

Atton took this advantage now, lifting his saber and cutting Sion down. The rotting corpse fell to the floor, but rose back up.

"Now you realize the power of the Dark Side. So long as the dark places in this world flow through the cracks of my flesh, I cannot be killed."

"So I get to humiliate you over and over again? Great!"

Sion replied with his saber, attacking with an upwards strike. Atton barely parried it, and took a few steps back. He drew a second, shorter saber from his jacket, lighted it, the golden glow very visible in the dark academy, and threw it at Sion. The saber flew through the air, but Sion ducked, laughing.

"Is that the best you can do? You are even more of a fool than I thought."

Atton grinned at him, calling the saber back. As it flew back, the blade sliced through Sion's shoulder. He fell to his knees in pain, but rose up again, a look of fury on his face. Blow after blow, Sion attacked, getting reckless with each one. Atton rolled out of the way of his last blow and struck again, pushing him into the wall with the Force.

Sion got up again, looking at Atton differently than before, as if realizing that he was wrong about him. "You are strong. Stronger than I thought. Perhaps she was wrong about you. But you cannot kill me."

Atton shook his head at Sion. "I might not know as much about that old witch as you or Dace, but I did figure this out: She likes you as much as bantha dung, because you need the Force to live. You're chewing the luna-weed if you think she'll take you even after killing me, Dace and the others."

Sion seemed shooked by this statement, but his resolve took the higher ground quickly. "She will have no choice but to take me when you and the Exile are dead. My training will be complete, as was intended."

"You keep telling yourself that." Atton replied, striking with a quick flurry of blows, which Sion bolcked with relative ease. Sion swung his saber at him, but Atton ducked in time, replying with an uppercut with his spare hand. Sion was knocked back a bit, and during his unbalanced moment, Atton puched him back with the Force again, which made Sion fall flat on his behind.

Atton quickly moved forwards and struck him down. _"How many times do I have to kill this guy? Four? Five?"_ He was quickly getting exasperated.

Sion rose back to his feet once more, and looked at Atton with a stare of fury. "You will not pass."

Atton looked at him in disbelief. "I'm starting to think you really are the fool here. Even you know Kreia's going to kill you, even if you kill me."

Sion's will seems to have been eroded again, as he looked into Atton's eyes, not believing that he was being told off by _Atton_, the fool. His anger rose and he struck Atton again. He blocked, but the blow was strong enough to send him flying across the room, landing on the ground in pain. He got up in time to roll out of the way as Sion's lightsaber sliced through the ground where he was.

Atton was getting tired. He'd been fighting this loon for over half an hour maybe, if not longer. What was he, the Dark Side's equivalent of the Black Dark Lord?

"I can die a hundred times, and I will rise up a hundred more!" Sion roared, his lightsaber swinging wildly. To be beated by this fool was an insult to him. An insult he will not stand!

Atton couldn't get close to the Sith, but he saw a window of opportunity that a Jedi wouldnt've seen. He drew his blaster pistol and fired several shots, each hitting. Sion hit the ground hard this time. He rose up, but it was getting difficult for him. "Why... Why can you defeat me? What makes you able to beat me, to beat me _here_?"

Atton walked up to the defeated Dark Lord cautiously. "A good friend of mine would probably have said that it's not the place that matters, it's the man. I'll add to that that you're not much of a man anymore, more of a rotting corpse."

Sion stood up slowly, but didn't reach for his lightsaber. "You... You have defeated me. Flesh and belief, cast down." He gave the room one last look.

"I am glad to leave this place... At last."

Darth Sion, Lord of Pain, fell to the ground, dead. For good, this time.

The door to Atton's left opened, and he drew his lightsaber. But it wasn't a Dark Jedi, it was Dace. He looked at the corpse of Darth Sion in disbelief.

"Nice seeing you here." he told him.

"Did... Did you kill him?" Dace asked.

"Yeah, I guess I did. I surprise myself sometimes."

Dace nodded, looking at Atton with a smile on his face. "That's quite the accomplishment. I guess congratulations are in order, but those will have to wait until later. Can you get the Hawk started while I go see Kreia?"

"Sure will. Tell her I said 'hi'." he added.

The two then parted ways, one leaving for the Trayus Core, the other for the surface of Malachor V.


End file.
